Hi, all. Good input from you all. Just wanted to mention that I had failed to look at the back cover, which is even worse!

[Click for larger image]

The PowerBook labeled '15.2"' is a shrunk down 17" (two holes in the top of the screen and slot-drive is clearly 17" drive), the one labeled '17"' is the same one as on the front cover, and it clearly is a 15" body with the 17" grilles and keyboard layed on top and mirror-flipped.

Holy shit, they're bad! I mean, this is a Mac reseller? If they couldn't get a 15" photo, then fine. but this is all backwards! (literally)

Another thing worth noting, is that there are no ports on the side of the 17" powerbook. So its obviously a 15incer enlarged to look like a 17incher. The problem though, is that photoshopping a 15 inch PB to look like a 17 inch takes way more time than copying it off the Apple website...

Yevgeny has the most convincing explanation although I think MacMall was foolish to do this and risk pissing off it's customers AND Apple all at the same time.

I could see that is could be intentional. The most obvious difference to me is that the keyboard is not black - the hinge takes close inspection to notice.

Try this scenario - Apple has been shipping stock on the new 15 inch for about a week now, but has forbidden VAR's from mentioning, posting pics, etc. MacMall just trying to get a jump on things without explicitedly violating Apple's orders.

Someone in marketing thought the 15" photo looked better than the straight-on 17" photo. They directed the poor sap who makes their catalogs to switch them around and make it look like the 15" photo was for the 17".

He or she heaved a heavy sigh, wondered how he/she ended up doing this for a living after 5 years in art school, cursed his/her fate, and did what he/she was told to.

He/she then went home and b*tched for no less than 20 minutes to his/her partner about the stupidity of people in marketing.

That's all pretty much marketing is, grab a photo and retouch it up...the magazines do it, J-Lo and Jennifer Aniston got it, I think Stiffler even got a boob-job this month, and who wouldn't want one?

So hey, it's nothin' new, the Ad-people don't know details about computers, that's not what they are paid to do, they are there to sell. Sell, sell, sell! The only thing that is going to sell is something that looks good, aka "shiny."

No. I 100% guarantee you that there is a disclaimer in their catalog that says that what you see isn't what you always get, and prices are subject to change without notice. Such disclaimers aren't there to be jerks, but because mistakes are made and you could easily bankrupt a company if a decimal point is misplaced.